Vanilla Extract - Not Just For Baking

With everyone trying to save on cleaners and expensive household products and sprays, it is good to know that some of the simple ingredients we have in our kitchen can have other uses. We know that lemons and vinegar are a great cleaner base. But here are a few tips for using vanilla extract.

SMELLY PAINT

If you are working on your lasted do it yourself project and you hate the smell of paint. Did you know if you add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the paint and stir it in, your whole house will smell wonderful while you are painting?

MICROWAVE

Does your microwave smell "so so" , or downright stinky from last night exploding fish dinner, or when the kids heat up their pizza snacks? Well clean it the best you can, and then place a small bowl with some vanilla extract in it, and heat it for 30 seconds or less in your microwave. You will get the instant and calming smell of vanilla wafting through your house, and your microwave will smell much better.

This is also a good trick for staging your house for sale. If you have people coming to look at your house, and you are not sure about the air in your place, then just do this as a precaution. Everyone loves the smell of baking and that is what this does for your kitchen. Vanilla extract is a calming smell.

FRIDGE

Does your fridge stink? Try to remove the offending food, and if it still does not have that "fresh" clean smell, then take a clean damp cloth and put a few drops of vanilla extra on the cloth and then wipe out the inside of your fridge. This should give it a fresh and clean smell. If not, then you can soak a cotton ball in some vanilla and put it at the back of your fridge. Every time you open the fridge you will have that nice fresh scent.

PERFUME

Ran out of perfume? Dad a bit of vanilla on your wrists or behind your ear. Everyone loves the scent of vanilla, you can even buy perfumes that are based on that scent alone. You may prefer this.

ODORS

If you are having guests over, and your dog rover, has been ... all over and you just can't get his smell out of the couch, even after vacuuming then soak a cotton ball in vanilla extract and place it under the couch where no one can see it. This will temporarily mask the odors, and saves on air fresheners. This way you don't have to spray the air, but you can still get that nice fresh scent.

There are many uses for ingredients that are sitting in our kitchen cabinets right now. No need to run to the store and buy a cleaner for this or a spray for that. We have too many of them under the sink right now right? So, find out more about natural cleaners and fresheners and see if you can't make your kitchen cabinets work double duty!